A 16-year-old boy has died after the tunnel he was digging on a beach collapsed on top of him.

The parents and friends of the teenager, from Wrexham, North Wales, dug frantically with their hands in an attempt to reach him. By the time the coastguard rescue team arrived they had managed to expose his head and arms, but he had stopped breathing.

The accident happened at Cefn Sidan, near Burry Port, West Wales, on Sunday after the boy and a dozen local youngsters had spent the day digging two deep holes about 15ft apart and then dug a tunnel to link them.

John Jones, station manager at Burry Port coastguard, said that the boy's parents were screaming for him to dig himself out from the collapsed tunnel. Mr Jones said: “His head and arms were sticking out of the sand but the rest of his body was completely covered. It took 15 to 20 minutes to uncover the rest of his body. There must have been two tonnes of sand on top of him.

“One of the girls in the group told me that she had been able to walk through the sand tunnel upright so it must have been pretty deep.”

The lifeguard's flags on the beach at Cefn Sidan were flying at half-mast yesterday out of respect for the boy.

A group of teenagers from the nearby village of Pembrey, who had been playing with the boy, arrived to place flowers at the spot where their friend had died. The boy was staying with his parents on a residential caravan site a mile away.

David Hughes, of Swansea coastguard, said that heavy rain the previous day may have contributed to the accident by making it easier to dig in the sand.

He said: “It's just a tragic accident that could have been prevented, but unfortunately children don't see the danger.”

Dyfed-Powys Police have begun an investigation into the accident.

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